15 Words That Mean Totally Different Things to Musicians

Posted by Dylan Welsh on Jul 23, 2015 09:00 AM
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languageWords can be either spoken, signed, or mimed, obviously. (Image via pinstake.com)

They say that music is a universal language. Well... it would seem that in addition to the music itself, we musicians have developed a language all our own.

1. Jam

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What it normally means: A fruit spread

What it means to musicians: A gathering a musicians where everybody plays together

 

2. Shed

shedImage via wikipedia.org

What it normally means: A creepy place behind your house where you store stuff

What it means to musicians: A slang term for practicing, or a place where you practice

 

3. Gig

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What it normally means: A temporary/one-off odd job

What it means to musicians: A live performance; your income

 

4. Cord/chord

cordImage via hdsupplysolutions.com

What it normally means: A cable that you plug into things

What it means to musicians: When you play three or more notes at the same time

 

5. Turn around

turnarounImage via entrepreneur.com

What it normally means: To turn 180 degrees

What it means to musicians: The method/chords used to get from the end of the song back to the beginning

 

6. Vamp

vampireImage via rantlifestyle.com

What it normally means: A scary, bloodsucking monster of the night

What it means to musicians: When you hang on one chord/progression indefinitely

 

7. Chart

chart-1Image via excel-easy.com

What it normally means: A graph that you use for business/work/studying/research

What it means to musicians: The music that you read on the gig

 

8. Cans

canImage via dreamstime.com

What it normally means: A metal container for certain types of food

What it means to musicians: The large headphones you wear in the studio

 

9. String

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What it normally means: A piece of material used to hold things together

What it means to musicians: The part of your instrument that breaks most frequently

 

10. Time

timeImage via startyourbusinessmag.com

What it normally means: The time of day

What it means to musicians: What you desperately hope the drummer can keep

 

11. Changes

changeImage via keithrhiggons.com

What it normally means: The things that are different in the present/future from the past

What it means to musicians: The chord progression of a song

 

12. Board

boardImage via wordstream.com

What it normally means: A plank of wood

What it means to musicians: What you hope the sound engineer actually knows how to use

 

13. Cover charge

cover_chargeImage via sdli.org

What it normally means: A pain in the butt

What it means to musicians: Part of what you need to survive

 

14. Reed

reedImage via ecy.wa.gov

What it normally means: A stalk-like plant

What it means to musicians: What you spend all of your money replacing, or all of your time making yourself

 

15. Wedding

weddingImage via money.cnn.com

What it normally means: A beautiful celebration

What it means to musicians: A fat paycheck

 

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Dylan Welsh is a freelance musician and music journalist, based in Seattle, WA. He currently plays in multiple Seattle bands, interns at Mirror Sound Studio, and writes for the Sonicbids blog. Visit his website for more information.

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Topics: Musician Life

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